Kokosing Youth Futures Project — Preliminary Findings & Methodology

The Kokosing Youth Futures Project is an original, youth-led survey examining how high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area experience emerging technology, academic pressure, digital media, and economic uncertainty. Drawing on responses from 310 students across private and public schools, the project explores how adolescents use generative AI in learning, navigate social media environments, assess institutional trust, and make sense of career expectations in a rapidly changing economy.

The findings reveal a generation of cautious early adopters: students widely use AI as a learning support rather than a substitute, express ambivalence about automation, and report significant emotional strain tied to online comparison and performance culture. Despite high confidence in digital and media literacy, many students describe gaps between perceived competence and lived experience, alongside persistent economic anxiety—even within an affluent sample. Together, the project offers a grounded, data-driven portrait of youth navigating opportunity and pressure in a digitally saturated environment.